Rehaf Ibrahim Al-Shaar^*(1) Ali Deeb⁽¹⁾ and Abd Al-Naser AL-Omar⁽²⁾

(1). Faculty of Agricultural, Al-Baath University, Homs, Syria.  

(2). Hama Agriculture Research Center, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GSCAR), Damascus, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Rehaf Ibrahim Al-Shaar. E-Mail: ellena.rehaf@gmail.com).

Received: 18/06/2019                                Accepted: 03/08/2019

Abstract

This study was conducted at Agricultural Research Center in Hama, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research GCSAR, in Syria during the period 2016-2018 in order to find out the length of lactation and milk production in Awassi sheep and the effect of some non-genetic factors on them. The results showed that the average milk production was 187.9 kg for one ewe and the average of lactation period was 183.9 days. The effect of type of birth was significant for both milk production and lactation period. The birth of single lambs surpassed the twin birth, and the interaction between the sex and the birth type had no significant effect on lactation period and milk production. The results also showed non-significant effect of the age of the sheep and the parity of lambing, on milk production and lactation period. The lambing interval had a significant effect on lactation period, while it had no effect on milk production. The weight of the ewe at birth had a significant effect on the production of milk and did not have any significant effect on lactation period, and the month of birth had a significant effect on the length of lactation period and not significant on the production of milk.

Key words: Milk production, Lactation period, Awassi sheep.

Full Paper in Arabic: PDF